Method for controlling breeding of free-range animals

ABSTRACT

A method automatically controls breeding of free-range animals. In this method, the feed consumed by each individual animal is uniquely identified and registered to enable full traceability between animals or products and the feed. The method comprises active and automatic control of the living conditions of the animals based on the monitored and recorded data so that a minimal amount of human interaction is required in the normal operation of a breeding system controlled by use of the method. Furthermore, a control system, typically comprising a general-purpose computer having a suitable computer program installed thereon, will control the operation of a breeding system.

This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/DK00/00485 which has an Internationalfiling date of Sep. 4, 2000, which designated the United States ofAmerica.

The present invention relates to a method for automatic control ofbreeding of free-range animals, in particular porkers and other animalsbred for meat production, wherein the feed consumed by each individualanimal is identified and registered to that the feeding of each animalmay be traced so that quality parameters of products derived form theanimals can be established and/or so as to identify animals that havebeen given feed form a particular batch of feed that subsequently hasbeen discovered to comprise impurities or contamination. In particular,the present method may comprise active and automatic control of theliving conditions of the animals based on the monitored and recordeddata so that a minimal amount of human interaction is required in thenormal operation of a breeding system controlled by use of the method.The invention further relates to a control system, typically comprisinga general-purpose computer having a suitable computer program installedthereon, for controlling the operation of a breeding system according tothe present method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A steadily increasing demand exists for animal products, such as meatand milk, of which the consumers can obtain knowledge with respect tothe breeding conditions of the animals from which the products origin,the breeding conditions being understood in a broad sense and includinga lot of details relating, e.g. to feeding of the animals and theirgeneral well-being. Furthermore, it is of interest to the farmers tohandle the animals individually, especially with respect to feeding, sothat the most efficient and economical breeding is performed. Thishandling should however be as automated as possible since the cost ofhuman labour is steadily increasing in most of the world.

A number of arrangements of individual control of animals are known forthe prior art in particular for pigs, for cattle and for milk cows.

One apparatus for automatic, individual feeding of animals is disclosedin DE 37 01 864 in which the animals are weighted and/or identified atone station form which each animal is selectively lead to one of aplurality of individual feeding pens, is lead back to the stock if theyhave been fed or is lead to a separation area by means of moving orturning the weighting/identification station between the differentdestinations. The identification of the animals, is made by means of anidentification tag fastened to each animal and the amount of feed in thefeeding pens is measured out for the individual animal.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,923 discloses an automatic animal feeding system, inparticular for cows, in which the animals are fed individually uponidentification of the animal from automatically reading of anidentification tag attached to each of the animals. The amount of feedprovided to the animal is based on information collected about eachanimal, such as the animals weight. The animal may be weighted manuallywhere after the weight is entered into the control system, or theanimals may be weighted automatically on a commonly accessible scalewhich periodically measured the weight of the animal, on scales providedin the feeding pens or on scales provided in the parlour stalls.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,647 relates to an automated method and system forproviding individual animal electronic identification, measurement andvalue based management of cattle in a large cattle feedlot. Animals areindividually identified and measured by weight, external dimensions andcharacteristics of internal body tissue. The individual identificationand registration of the cattle with respect to physical and otherinformation is used for calculating the optimal time for slaughtering.There is no mentioning of an individual feeding of the cattle or feedingmeans and the cattle are fed directly on the ground in the herd.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,833 relates to a computer controlled equipment forbreeding of calves and other animals, comprising means foridentification and weighing of each animal, computation of amount andcomposition of feed from the weight, the increase in weight, thicknessof fat layer, temperature etc.

German Patent Application DE 3 623 816 relates to an equipment in whichthe animals are weighted and an amount of feed is computed according tothe individual weight and weight gain of the animal and the feed ratiois dispersed and registered.

Several other patents and patent applications relates to controlledbreeding of animals, such as FI 930 961, GB 2 190 767, GB 2 220 834, GB2 232 053, DE 195 21 570, FR 2 507 776, FR 2 623 688, EP 0 657 098, WO84/01688, WO 91/10358, WO 96/00003, WO 98/47351, WO 97/47187, WO98/39475, U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,240, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,706, U.S. Pat.No. 4,532,892, U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,321, U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,424, U.S.Pat. No. 4,589,372, U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,864 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,719.

However, none of the above identified references include the tracingbetween each individual animal and thereby the potential productsderived therefrom and the identification of the particular feed beingfed to said individual animals.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

By the use of the present invention, detailed knowledge of theconditions for the individual animal may be provided to the consumers,primarily relating to feeding and type of feed, such as organicallygrown feed, genetically modified feed, absence of animal food in feedfor herbivores etc., conditions relating to health, such as cases ofillness, intake of medicine within a given period etc. Furthermore, themethod of the present invention provides the condition that thewell-being of the individual animal is constantly monitored so that noanimal will show behaviour or other characteristics indicating illnessor other deviation from the normal well-being for a longer periodwithout action is taken to change the condition of the animal.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method forbreeding of animals in which a precise and traceable identification ofthe feed consumed by the animal is registered and kept on record,preferably during the lifetime of the animal, so that a well-documentedproduct from the animals may be provided.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method in which themonitored and recorded characteristics are used to actively control theconditions for the animal, including feeding of the animals as well asselection of the animals for slaughtering, for further breeding, formedical treatment, etc.

One of the advantages of the present invention relates to thepossibility of identifying and separating one or more animals forslaughtering or other purposes based on a selection of data on theanimals which may be incorporated into the computer program.

In one embodiment, a number of animals such as pigs are separated at aspecific time based on a number of criteria or characteristics such asone or more of the following weight, fat content, health (duration fromlast medication, absence of fever), and age. The separation of thedesired number of animals may then be performed at a given time such asa planned transportation to the slaughterhouse. If the desired number isnot available, the system may set a number of alternative criteria orranges to secure that the desired number of animals are separated.

In a further embodiment, the characteristics which are used forseparating the animal include registration of conditions relating tostress such as the stress symptoms including pulse, blood pressure andregistration of a dilation of the eye pupil, all parameters is comparedwith a basic value registered and recorded on each animal. Any of thesefactors may be registered and stored at any desired time according tothe control system of the present invention. The specific registrationis preferable performed in connection with the registration of theindividual animal in the automatic feeding unit, or in connection withweighting or if desired, the animal may regularly be separated for thespecific detection of any of such features.

In a still further embodiment, the method of controlling according tothe present invention involves recording of data relevant for theindividual animal suitability for breeding in addition to the basicrecording of the parent. These data include a recording of number ofpiglets delivered by the sow, the weight of the piglets and other healthparameters. Accordingly, the computer program may identify the optimalparent animals for breeding in accordance with the situation andcircumstances wherein which the animals should live, such as theclimate, available food, stress factors in addition to factors relatingto health, weight gain in relation to food intake, etc.

In a still further embodiment, animals which has been geneticallyengineered for the purpose of organ delivery for transplantation intohumans may be monitored and controlled according to the presentinvention.

In addition, a product arising from the animal such as milk may in thefurther production and handling be followed by a recording allowingidentification of the animal delivering the product at a later stage. Inone embodiment, the meat arising for the animal is registered andfollowed by an identification which e.g. in case of contaminated meatallows identification of the individual animal as well as the entireherd. It will also be possible to identify other products which has beenin any contact or possible contact with the contaminated product duringthe handling procedure.

Animals which has been genetically engineered for delivering a productwith a specific quality such as a human hormone excreted in the milk maybe subject to a concrete surveillance according to the invention in thatweight, temperature, health parameters and behaviour is registered andmonitored for the individual animal.

The advantage of the present invention relates to the fact that it willbe possible to breed a large number of animals with a minimal mancapacity. At the same time it is possible to diminish loss of feed andfurthermore, the breeding may be adapted to one or more specific desiredqualities of the product without increasing cost or work. In otherwords, the system allow e.g. the breeding of animals with different fatcontent to be breed together and also to feed a selected number ofanimals with a selected food. The breeding may also be performed duringcircumstances securing the overall welfare of the animal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the main aspect, the present invention relates to a methodfor controlling breeding of animals of a herd comprising for each animalthe repeated series of steps of

automatic identification of an individual animal by means ofidentification means controlled by means of a control unit to which anoutput significant of the identity of the animal is communicated fromthe identification means,

dispersing feed to the identified animal by means of feed dispersingmeans of an automatic feeding unit controlled by means of the controlunit, and

adding data concerning the feeding of the identified animal to a recordpertaining to said animal and storing said record on data storage meansassociated with the control unit, the data concerning the feeding of theidentified animal comprises data suitable for unique identification ofthe batch/batches of feed from which the feed dispersed to the animal istaken. Thereby a unique link between each animal and the specificbatches of feed is established from which a tracing between animals andfeed is enabled.

These data suitable for unique identification of the feed dispersed tothe animal may be used for establishing a link between an animal or aproduct derived from an animal, such as meat or milk, to an identifiedsource of feed. This feature implies several advantages. It enables thatthe consumer can obtain data relating to the content of the feed givento the animal, such as e.g. a possible content of genetically modifiedplant products, animal products such as meat-and-bone meal, plantproducts that have been treated with pesticides or straw-shorteningagents, etc. The feature further enables the establishment of a linkfrom a source of feed containing unwanted or harmful components toanimals or products from animals that have been fed the feed in questionas well as a link from an animal or a product that have beendemonstrated to contain such component to a limited sources of feed,from which the contaminated feed may be identified and a link from thefeed to animals and products may be established. The uniqueidentification of the batch of feed may be the code used commonlycomprising a 12 number identification of the content of the batch plus a4 number identification of the batch itself. This identification may becombined with the storage of a sample of each batch as described below.

Thus, the method may further comprise the steps of

identifying from said records which batches a given animal have consumedfeed from,

retrieving from data storage means information about the constituents ofeach of the batches of feed from which a given animal have consumed feedfrom, and

producing an output accordingly. This output may comprise a detailedlist of components and their absolute of relative share of the totalamount of feed consumed by the animal, the output may information aboutthe components, whether they are e.g. organically grown, are geneticallymodified or any other information that may be of interest to consumersor others.

Alternatively or additionally, the link between animals and batches offeed may be used to trace animals that have been fed a given batch offeed, and the method may comprise the steps of

identifying from a unique identification of a batch of feed the animalsof the herd which have consumed feed from said batch, and

producing an output accordingly.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the data suitable forunique identification of the batch/batches of feed from which the feeddispersed to the animal is taken are being added to a record pertainingto the identified animal for substantially all food being fed to theanimal during a period corresponding substantially to the lifetime ofthe animal and substantially all of the data added to the recordpertaining to each of the animals are kept in the record at least duringsaid period. The adding of data to the records may also include datafrom monitoring of characteristics of the animal as described below andalso be performed during a period corresponding substantially to thelifetime of the animal and substantially all of the data added to therecord pertaining to each of the animals are kept in the record at leastduring said period. In addition, the monitoring may be continued for aproduct obtained from the animal allowing a control back in time andsubsequent identification of an animal giving rise to a product of highquality or in other cases the identification of an animal which producesa product with inferior quality. Based on the record of the animal it ispossible to study possible factors and conditions relevant for the finalproduct depending on the intended use of the product, i.e. consumption,breeding, veterinarian or human medical research, etc.

Each record may alternatively or additionally comprises data relating tothe identity of the mother of the individual animal, said data beingsuitable for enabling unique identification of feed dispersed to themother during the pregnancy period to be retrieved. Thereby, theabove-mentioned links may be established for the indirect feedconsumption of the animals in the embryonic stage.

The linking between animal and batches of feed may in a preferredembodiment be extended to comprise a linking between products derivedfrom the animals and the batches of feed. Thus, the method may furthercomprise the steps of

determining by means of product identification means a unique animalidentification of products derived from animals of the herd, and

searching and retrieving from data storage means a record pertaining tothe animal from which the product was derived in accordance with thedetermined unique animal identification, the record comprising datasuitable for unique identification of batches of feed from which feeddispersed to the animal have been taken.

As it is increasingly important to have a safe identification on ananimal and as the genetic technology now allows easy test for an animalsDNA profile, the method may involve a record comprising data beingsignificant for the DNA of the animal to which the record pertains sothat each animal may be positively linked to the record pertaining tosaid animal by means of said data. Thus, the method may further comprisethe steps of

determining unique animal identification data by means of analysing theDNA of a sample taken from an animal of the herd or from a productderived from an animal from the herd, and

searching and retrieving from data storage means a record pertaining tothe animal in accordance with the determined unique animalidentification data, the record comprising data suitable for uniqueidentification of batches of feed from which feed dispersed to theanimal have been taken.

In order to achieve a more detailed monitoring of the animals and foruse e.g. in separation of animals from the herd, the data concerning thefeeding of the individual animal may comprises data concerning the timeat which the animal is fed.

The method according to the invention may furthermore comprise the stepsof

monitoring characteristics of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of said characteristics by means of detectionmeans controlled by means of a control unit to which the detection meanscommunicate an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the detection being accompanied by an automaticidentification of the individual animal by means of identification meanscontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans, said characteristics comprising at least the weight of theanimal, and

adding said output from the detection means into a record pertaining tothe individual animal, the record being selected by the control unitfrom a plurality of records comprised within a data storage means ofsaid control unit by use of the output from the identification means,and storing of said record in the data storage means by means of saidcontrol unit.

In a further embodiment the method additionally comprises the steps of

computing a feed ration for each individual animal by means of thecontrol unit based on data comprised within the record of said animaland on a set of standard data comprised in the data storage means,

the control of the automatic feeding unit by means of the control unitto disperse feed to the identified animal being according to thecomputed feed ration. Data about the dispersed feed ration is stored inthe record pertaining to the animal. The computed feed ration maycomprise a mixture of at least two types of feed and the feed dispersingmeans disperses according to the method said mixture accordingly.

In an important aspect of the invention, the method is a method whereinthe feeding unit comprises detection means for detecting a possibleamount of feed that was not consumed by the animal to which it wasdispersed and for communicating data being significant of said amount tothe control unit, said data being added to the record pertaining to saidanimal. Advantageously, the detection means may comprise a camera forproducing an image of the feeding bowl after the animal has left is anda computer programme for determining the potential amount ofnon-consumed feed from the image. Such a system has proven to requireless maintenance than a weighing unit in the feeding bowl. It isdetected that the animal has not finished the full amount of feed, theamount may be decreased for the next feeding whereas the amount of feedmay be increased if the animal empties the bowl. The feeding is therebyadjusted to optimise the growth rate for the individual animal fromweaning to slaughtering. The collected data may also be used forcomputation of the E value discussed below and for monitoring of thewell being of the animal.

The characteristics to be monitored according to the present inventionmay according to the invention relates to the step of monitoring of atleast one of the following characteristics:

a) a temperature of the animal,

b) a thickness of the fat layer on the back of the animal, and

c) an image representing at least a part of the body of the animal,

the at least one characteristics being detected by suitable detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicates an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the method further comprising the step of adding saidoutput from the detection means into the record pertaining to theidentified animal. The images may be used for identification of theanimals, for classification purposes, surveillance of the well-beingand/or for veterinarian or human medical research purposes.

In case stress factors is relevant the method comprises the monitoringof at least one of the following characteristics relating to the stresslevel of the animal:

d) the respiration rate of the animal,

e) the heart beat rate of the animal,

f) the blood pressure of the animal, and

g) an image of an eye of the animal,

the at least one characteristics being detected by suitable detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicates an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the method further comprising the step of comparison ofthe output signal with a standard value of said output comprised withinthe storage means by means of the control unit and the step of addingthe outcome of said comparison into the record pertaining to theidentified animal. The standard value of said output for each of theanimals may be comprised within the record pertaining to the animal. Theimage of the eye of an animal may also be used for unique identificationpurposes.

In a further aspect, the temperature of each animal is monitored, andthe method further comprising the steps of

determining whether the detected temperature deviates from apredetermined reference temperature range by means of the control unit,and

separating the animal by means of the separation unit in case ofdeviation.

Due to the fact that feeding is an important and economical relevantfactor in breeding, the method according to the invention may furthercomprise the step of

on a regular basis computing the E value, being the weight unit growthper consumed weight unit of feed, for each animal by means of thecontrol unit using data comprised within the record pertaining to theanimal. This will enable the breeder to identify an animal which forsome reason is having an unusual growth curve, whether desirable or nondesirable. Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment, the invention relatesto a method further comprising the steps of

determining for each animal whether the computed E value deviates from apredetermined set of E value ranges by means of the control unit, and

separating the animal by means of a separation unit controlled by meansof the control unit in case of deviation.

The calculation of E values may also be utilised for, on a regularbasis, computing statistical values of weight unit growth per consumedweight unit of a given feed (E value) for a plurality of the animals bymeans of the control unit using data comprised within the recordpertaining to each of said plurality of animals so as to provide ameasure of the quality of the given feed and thereby evaluate thequality e.g. in order to adjust the feeding rations and/or to monitorchanges in the quality. It is preferred in order to make the calculationof the E value as precise as possible that the dispersed amount of feedis weighted before it is fed to the animal instead of relying on theprecision of the dispersing means, such as a screw conveyor. With alarge number of systems for breeding of animals according to the presentmethod and using a vast number of different types of feed, it will bepossible to range the types of feed according to the quality, i.e. theunit growth per unit consumed weight or per unit costs, and having aseparate range for each group of animals, such as porkers 20-30 kg ofweight, etc. This ranging of the types of feed may according to theinvention be prepared and made publicly accessible on a computer systembeing connected to a public communication network.

In a still more preferred embodiment, the method comprises the steps of

determining for each animal whether the consumed amount of feed deviatesfrom a predetermined set of feed consumption ranges by means of thecontrol unit using data comprised within the record pertaining to theanimal, and

separating the animal by means of the separation unit in case ofdeviation.

The feed ration for each animal may also be adjusted by means of thecontrol unit according to the detected temperature and optionally to thewind speed the animals are subjected to. This is due to he fact that thetemperature of the environment is relevant for the energy each animalwill need.

It is a general advantage if the breeding system is arranged to performautomatic separation of a subgroup of animals from the herd for thepurpose of e.g. slaughtering, for medical treatment, etc. Thus, themethod may further comprise the steps of

selecting a subgroup of the herd of animals, said subgroup comprising atleast one animal, by means of the control unit, the selection beingbased on data comprised within the records of each animal and on a setof selection data comprised in the data storage means, and

controlling an automatic separation unit by means of the control unit,wherein each animal belonging to said subgroup is automaticallyidentified by means of identification means controlled by means of thecontrol unit and is separated to a separation enclosure.

The control unit may preferable at least temporarily connected to a datacommunication network which it is able to communicate with at least oneremote system. The remote system may be a surveillance system from whichthe operation of the control unit may be remotely monitored and at leastpartially controlled. The communication between the control unit may bevia private data communication means, public data communication meanssuch as telephone lines, it may be by wire or wireless, or anycombination of data communication means and networks. The communicationis preferably established as a two-way communication.

The method may also comprise the step of issuing a warning informationrequesting external interaction by means of the control unit in case atleast one condition of a list of conditions is fulfilled, the list ofconditions comprising at least the following conditions:

a) at least one of the animals has not entered a feeding unit within apredetermined time period, and

b) the power supply to the breeding system controlled by the controlunit is interrupted.

In a further aspect, the feeding unit comprises feed storage means andmonitoring means for monitoring the content of the storage means andcommunicating to the control unit accordingly, the list of conditionsfurther comprising one or more of the following conditions:

c) the remaining supply of feed in the feed storage means is below apredetermined threshold value.

d) the pressure in the supply of compressed air to the breeding systemis below a predetermined threshold value,

e) the pressure in the supply of drinking water to the breeding systemis below a predetermined threshold value, and

f) a malfunction of one of the elements of the breeding system beingcontrolled by means of the control unit is detected, and alternativelyor additionally,

g) at least one of the animals has not approached a drinking water bowla within a predetermined time period.

The warning may be issued for any other monitored characteristic of theanimal or any other malfunction of the system, such as erroneousfunction of the weighing means, of gates, of turning of carrousel, etc.The operation of the system may furthermore be monitored by camerasproducing images from which a malfunction of the system may be detectedautomatically by image analysis. The analysis may be performed in thecontrol unit or in a remote surveillance system.

In a preferred embodiment, the warning information is issued to a remotesystem by means of the data communication network.

Use of medicine in the breeding is of increasing interest in thatresistance and leftover of medicine in the products of the animal shouldbe avoided. Accordingly, control of the feeding unit may furthercomprise the step of controlling medicine dispersing means of thefeeding unit in accordance with medicine dispersing data stored withinthe record pertaining to the identified animal in the feeding unit sothat the animal is being provided with a predetermined ration ofmedicine, the data concerning the dispersing of medicine is added tosaid record.

The invention also relates to a method wherein a subgroup is selected tobe in accordance with a separation order communicated to the controlunit, the separation order comprising data relating to the number ofanimals to be separated and to at least one quality to be fulfilled bythe selected animals, the at least one quality being selected from alist of qualities comprising the following quality:

a) a weight range from which the weight of each of the selected animalsdo not deviate,

b) a predetermined time period in which medicine has not been dispersedto any of the selected animals,

c) a thickness range from which the thickness of the fat layer on theback of the selected animals should not deviate,

d) a set of E value ranges from which the set of computed E values ofthe selected animals should not deviate.

In general, the separation is performed in relation to the feeding andthe separation order may further comprises data relating to the time atwhich the separation following the selection is to be accomplished, theseparation of animals being performed with consideration to datarelating to the times at which the animal is fed comprised in the recordof each animal. In addition, animals that are separated for slaughteringare preferable identified and monitored through the procedure ofseparation, transport to the place of slaughtering and the slaughteringprocess itself so that the a plurality of times relating to saidprocedure are monitored for each of the individual animals the times areadded to the records pertaining to the respective animals.

A separation order as discussed above may be communicated to the controlunit from a computer system being external to the control unit via apublic data communication network, and optionally also via a remotesurveillance system and the control unit, respectively the remotesurveillance system, is in this embodiment adapted to receive such aseparation order of a given format and effectuate it automatically. Theseparation order is typically issued from a slaughterhouse or the like.The separation order comprises in a preferred embodiment a future dateof separation and the control unit are adapted to control the breedingso as to aim at fulfilling the at least one quality of the separationorder.

Finally, the receipt of a separation order from an external computersystem is in a most preferred embodiment followed by the step of issuingan order confirmation from the control unit, optionally from a remotesurveillance system, via a public data communication network to theexternal computer system, said order confirmation comprising informationindicating to which extend said separation order may be executed.

Each of the records may further comprise data relating to the identityof the parents of the animal and to the date of birth.

As explained above, animals that are separated for slaughtering may befollowed through the slaughtering process as well as the meat processingprocess so that at least some of the final products originating from theanimals can be positively identified as to from which animal the productoriginates. It is preferred that said identified products are equippedwith an identification means by means of which the animal from which theproduct originates can be identified.

It is thus possible to offer customers to place orders containingdetailed specifications for the specific product and to control theproduction and breeding accordingly. By the tracing of the products andanimals made possible be the present system, it is possible for thecustomer to control that the specifications are fulfilled. An ordercould comprise the following specifications:

only female pigs, the mothers of which were in free-range duringpregnancy, the piglets not weaned until 7th week, raised in open air/onfield from 7th week, a constant monitoring of the well-being of theindividual animal, no medication given to the animals, no contents ofgenetically modified components in the feed, no treatment of graincomponents in the feed with specified pesticides or other specifiedchemicals, no fertilisation of components of the feed with sludge,specified identity of the persons/companies responsible for the breedingof the animals, maximum transport time between breeding place andslaughterhouse, maximum time between arrival to slaughterhouse andslaughtering, limit for measured stress level (measured from the meat,e.g. the content of halotene), weight range before slaughtering, e.g.110-112 kg, thickness of fat layer on the back 6-8 mm, maturing of themeat and date of delivery.

Similarly, a request can be made to the control unit or the remotesystem whether a given number of animals fulfilling a given set ofcriteria can be separated and delivered at a given date of delivery.

In a still further aspect, the invention relates to a breedingarrangement controlled by use of the method and comprising a mud-holearranged accessible for the animals, the mud-hole having such dimensionsthat it may contain at least one of said animals and having a design sothat said animals are able to enter and leave the mud-hole, the mud-holecomprising detection means for detecting the relative content of one ormore components of excreta in a liquid contained within the mud-hole andcommunicating an output accordingly to the control unit, the controlunit comparing the output with a predetermined range stored within thestorage means and issuing a warning in case the output deviates fromsaid range. Any warning may be issued to an external system via thecommunication network.

The above-mentioned methods may comprise a monitoring of the intake ofdrinking water by the individual animal as well as the time of the waterintake, a data recordation accordingly and the issuing of a warning orthe separation of an animal if the water intake deviates from apredetermined range. The range may be determined from a number of data,such as the weight, age, race and/or sex of the animal, environmentalconditions such as temperature, wind speed and/or humidity, and adeviation from the range may be an early indication of an illness of theanimal, typically diarrhoea which may be deadly to the animal ifdiagnosed late in the course of the disease. The amount of drinkingwater may also be measured out for each of the animals in the drinkingbowl and/or in the feeding bowl.

The present invention relates in a further aspect, that may be regardedas a separate invention that may be combined with any of the previouslymentioned steps and features or may be incorporated in the above method,to a method for controlling breeding of animals of a herd comprising foreach animal the repeated series of steps of

monitoring characteristics of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of said characteristics by means of detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicate an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the detection being accompanied by an automaticidentification of the individual animal by means of identification meanscontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans, said characteristics comprising at least the weight of theanimal,

adding said output from the detection means into the record pertainingto the individual animal and storing of said record in the data storagemeans by means of the control unit,

dispersing feed to the identified animal by means of feed dispersingmeans of an automatic feeding unit controlled by means of the controlunit,

adding data concerning the feeding of the identified animal to a recordpertaining to said animal and storing said record on data storage meansassociated with the control unit,

automatic identification of an individual animal approaching a drinkingwater bowl by means of identification means of the drinking bowlcontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans,

monitoring of the amount of water consumed by said animal from thedrinking water bowl by means of detection means and communicating anoutput accordingly to the control unit, and

adding said data to the record pertaining to said animal, the animals ofthe herd being supplied with drinking water from one or more drinkingwater bowls controlled in the above way so that all consumption ofdrinking water of each of the animals is monitored and data concerningsaid consumption are added to the record of each animal.

Thus, according to this aspect, at least the weight and the feeding ofthe animal is monitored by the control unit as well as the water intakeby the animal. Thereby, a full surveillance of the essentialcharacteristics is available for detecting deviations in the well-beingof the animal. The intake of drinking water may increase or decrease asa function of a number of parameters and with the use of the datarelating to feeding and weight, a potential illness of the animal may bedetected from the data relating to the intake of water and the necessarymeasures may be taken. Thus, the method may further comprise the stepsof

determining for each animal whether the consumed amount of waterdeviates from a predetermined set of water consumption ranges by meansof the control unit using data comprised within the record pertaining tothe animal, and

separating the animal by means of the separation unit in case ofdeviation.

Furthermore, the step of separation of the animal is accompanied by theissuance of warning information by means of the control unit.

The present invention relates in a yet further aspect, which may beregarded as a separate invention that may be combined with any of thepreviously mentioned steps and features or may be incorporated in theabove methods, to a method for controlling breeding of animals of a herdcomprising

selecting by means of a control unit a subgroup of animals from the herdand determining a weight range from which the weight of each of theselected animals should not deviate at a selected future date, themethod further comprising for each animal of the selected subgroup therepeated series of steps of

monitoring the weight of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of the weight by means of weighing meanscontrolled by means of a control unit to which the weighing meanscommunicate an output signal being significant for the detected weight,the detection being accompanied by an automatic identification of theindividual animal by means of identification means controlled by meansof the control unit to which an output significant of the identity ofthe animal is communicated from the identification means,

adding said output from the weighing means into a record pertaining tothe individual animal, the record being selected by the control unitfrom a plurality of records comprised within a data storage means ofsaid control unit by use of the output from the identification means,and storing of said record in the data storage means by means of saidcontrol unit,

computing by means of the control unit a feed ration for each individualanimal based on data comprised within the record pertaining to saidanimal, on the selected weight range, and on the selected date,

controlling an automatic feeding unit by means of the control unit,wherein each individual animal is automatically identified by means ofidentification means controlled by means of the control unit and thecomputed feed ration for the individual animal is dispersed to theanimal by means of feed dispersing means controlled by means of thecontrol unit, and

adding data concerning the feeding of the individual animal to therecord pertaining to said animal.

Thus, the control unit may advantageously base the computation of thefeed ration on a predetermined desired weight of the individual animaland a predetermined future date on which date said individual animal isdesired to reach said weight, whereby a given number of animals may beready for separation, e.g. for slaughtering, with a given weight at agiven date. The control of the weight may be performed by feeding theanimals a larger, respectively a smaller ratio of feed, or it can beperformed by changing the composition or mixture of feed for theindividual animal. The method may accordingly comprise the steps of

receiving by means of the control unit a separation order comprisingdata relating to the number of animals to be separated, to a weightrange from which the weight of each of the selected animals should notdeviate upon separation, and to a future date of separation,

performing said selection of a subgroup in accordance with the receivedseparation order, and

performing by means of separation means controlled by the control unit aseparation from the remaining herd of the selected subgroup of animalson said date of separation.

The present invention relates in another yet further aspect, which maybe regarded as a separate invention that may be combined with any of thepreviously mentioned steps and features or may be incorporated in theabove methods, to a method for controlling breeding of animals of a herdcomprising for each animal the repeated series of steps of

monitoring characteristics of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of said characteristics by means of detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicate an output signal being significant or the detectedcharacteristics, the detection being accompanied by an automaticidentification of the individual animal by means of identification meanscontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans, said characteristics comprising at least the weight of theanimal,

adding said output from the detection means into the record pertainingto the individual animal and storing of said record in the data storagemeans by means of the control unit,

dispersing feed to the identified animal by means of feed dispersingmeans of an automatic feeding unit controlled by means of the controlunit,

detecting by means of electronic image recording means an electronicimage being significant of a possible amount of feed that was notconsumed by the animal to which it was dispersed and processing saidimage by means of data processing means to determine said possibleamount, and

adding data concerning the feeding of the identified animal, includingsaid determined possible amount, to a record pertaining to said animaland storing said record on data storage means associated with thecontrol unit.

The present invention relates in a still yet further aspect, which maybe regarded as a separate invention that may be combined with any of thepreviously mentioned steps and features or may be incorporated in theabove methods, to a method for remote surveillance of a plurality ofbreeding systems each for automatic breeding of animals of a separateherd by means of a central surveillance computer system, the methodcomprises for each of the breeding systems the steps of

monitoring characteristics of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of said characteristics by means of detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicate an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the detection being accompanied by an automaticidentification of the individual animal by means of identification meanscontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans, said characteristics comprising at least the weight of theanimal,

adding said output from the detection means into the record pertainingto the individual animal and storing of said record in the data storagemeans by means of the control unit,

dispersing feed to the identified animal by means of feed dispersingmeans of an automatic feeding unit controlled by means of the controlunit,

adding data concerning the feeding of the identified animal to a recordpertaining to said animal and storing said record on data storage meansassociated with the control unit,

performing a continuous monitoring of the operation of at least parts ofthe breeding system by means of the control unit, and

at least temporarily establishing a data communication connectionbetween the control unit and the central surveillance computer systemvia a data communication network,

the method further comprising the steps of comparing the collected datarelating to the animals of each of the herds and to the monitoring ofthe operation of each of the plurality of breeding systems with a set ofstandard data defining an envelope of normal operation and issuing bymeans of the central surveillance computer a warning message comprisinga request for human interaction with a specified one of the plurality ofbreeding systems.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a computer systemcomprising at least one general purpose computer having one or morecomputer programs stored within data storage means associated therewith,the computer system being arranged for as well as being adapted forperforming the above-described method.

Also, the present invention relates to a computer program product beingadapted to enable a computer system comprising at least one generalpurpose computer having data storage means associated therewith andbeing arranged suitably to perform the above-described method.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

An embodiment of the present invention described in the following withreference to the figures. The embodiment is only an example in whichonly a part of the possible features of the present invention asdiscussed above are demonstrated. The embodiment is illustrated as shownin FIGS. 1-18 of which

FIG. 1 shows an elevated view of an arrangement comprising separationequipment and a feeding carrousel,

FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of FIG. 1 placed within a feeding hut,

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the arrangement of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing the operation from the animal is toenter the feeding hut and until the animal is situated on the scale andthe entrance gate is closed,

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing the operation when the animal issituated on the scale in the inlet enclosure and identification of theanimal as well as monitoring of weight, temperature, thickness of fatlayer, video recording of the body,

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the operation where the control unitdetermines whether the animal should be lead to feeding or be separatedfor e.g. slaughtering, due to illness, for insemination, etc., as wellas feeding of the individual animal,

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the monitoring of gates in theequipment used in the feeding arrangement,

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the operation of a drinking water bowlin the feeding arrangement, wherein the water intake for each animal ismonitored and a warning may be issued if the intake deviates from astandard range,

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the operation of video monitoring ofthe feeding hut including control of the illumination of the hut,

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing the operation relating to issuing ofwarnings from the control unit according to input from monitoring ofequipment,

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing the monitoring of the operation of theequipment of the feeding arrangement,

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing the reset procedure of the feedingcarrousel,

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the operations involved in remotemonitoring (MMI monitoring) of a feeding carrousel,

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the communication between the databasesystem of the control unit and external users,

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram showing the operation of automatically resetof all functions in all positions,

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing update of the database,

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram showing the monitoring of transport, waitingtime and slaughtering time, and

FIGS. 18a and 18 b is a fish-bone diagram providing an overview of themethod according to the present invention.

The flow diagrams FIGS. 4-17 relates to operations controlled by meansof the control means of the arrangement. The numbers given at differentpositions in the flow diagrams, such as “40” in FIG. 14 refer to acorresponding number positioned on a different flow diagram, in thiscase in FIG. 16, at which position the operation continues. The methodof the present embodiment according to the present invention is carriedout according to the flow diagrams by means of a Personal Computerhaving the necessary equipment and a suitable computer program installedthereon to perform the required operations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The arrangement given as an example of an embodiment according to theinvention comprises separation equipment having a transceiver 1 forcommunicating with transponders in the earmarks of each of the animalsfor identification of the individual animals, an inlet gate 2 that isopened for an animal if the identification made by means of thetransceiver 1 indicates that the animal should be fed, a scale 3 fordetermining the weight of the animal that have entered the separationenclosure defined by the gates 2, 6, 7, and the fence 8, a secondtransceiver 4 for verifying the identification of the animal, a firstoutlet gate 6 for providing access to the feeding carrousel 9 and asecond outlet gate 7 for separating individual animals from the rest ofthe herd. Furthermore, the arrangement is equipped with an infra redsensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the skin of theanimal that has entered the equipment and for communicating the measuredvalue to a control unit.

The feeding carrousel 9 is divided with fences 10 into eight parts of asuitable size for accommodating an animal, each part comprising afeeding bowl 11 with supply for feed and optionally drinking water. Thecarrousel 9 on the figure is turning counter-clockwise with a typicalrotational speed of about four turns per hour so that an animal willhave seven eighths of a quarter of an hour (about thirteen minutes) toeat but the rotational speed is adjustable. The carrousel 9 is supportedby a conical ball bearing as manufactured e.g. by Jost (Neu-Isenburg,Germany). The carrousel 9 is surrounded by a stationary fence 12 thatcovers most of the circumference of the carrousel 9 except at the gate 6leading to the carrousel 9 and to the left of the gate 6 at the outletposition 13 where the animals are leaving the carrousel 9. An arm 14 isprovided for expelling the animals from the part being at the outletposition 13. The arm 14 is slightly curving in the horizontal plane soat so prevent the animal from being wedged or squeezed. The fences 10dividing the carrousel 9 and the arm 14 are formed from slats arrangedso that the fences 10 may pass the arm 14, as being apparent from FIG.3. The shown arm 14 comprises four slats but the arm 14 according to theinvention comprises at least one slat and the fences have a openingdefined therein for being able to pass the arm 14. The number of slatson the arm 14 and their shape and vertical position depends on the kindof animals to be fed in the arrangement.

The arm 14 may alternatively be mounted on the centre part of thecarrousel 9 or it may be constructed as a turntable with approximatelythe same diameter as the carrousel 9 and turning in the same directionjust above the floor of the carrousel 9. The centre of the turntable issituated just outside the perimeter of the carrousel 9 so that theanimal are forced to jump onto the turntable which turns the animal andmove it out from the part of the carrousel 9. The arm 14 is in analternative embodiment replaced by a pushing member mounted on an aircylinder so that it may move along a radial to the carrousel 9 from thecentre so as to push the animal from the part being at the outletposition 13, which may be combined with a turnable part of the floor inthe part of the carrousel 9 that turns the animal within the part of thecarrousel 9 a half-turn so that it is facing the periphery of thecarrousel 9 before it is expelled. According to another alternativeembodiment, the arm 14 is replaced by an air cylinder that lifts theinner end of a section of the floor of the carrousel 9 covering the partbeing at the outlet position 13 whereas the outer end of the floorsection is hinged to a frame part of the carrousel 9 near the outerperiphery of the carrousel 9 so that the animal is tipped out from thepart of the carrousel 9 According to yet another embodiment, the sectionof the floor of the carrousel 9 covering the part being at the outletposition 13 is removed with the animal positioned on it either bydragging or lifting the floor section which is replaced by a similarfloor section for allowing another animal to use the part of thecarrousel 9. The above alternatives may also be combined in various waysto meet the requirement of expelling the animal from the part of thecarrousel 9.

The animals leave the carrousel 9 to an enclosure such as a part 15 ofthe feeding hut 16 as shown on FIG. 2. The animals may only leave theenclosure through a one-way door 17, thus assuring that the animals passthe feeding system in one direction.

The supply of feed to the feeding bowls 11 may be provided from a feedcontainer 18 arranged under the ceiling of the feeding hut, the feedbeing led from the container 18 through an opening 19 in the lower partof the container to the feeding bowls 11. A screw conveyor 20 measuresout a specified amount of feed to the individual animal that is fed fromthe specified feeding bowl 11. The amount of feed is for porkerstypically in the range of 1.5-3.5 kg.

The arrangement has a safety system to ensure that the animals will notsuffer any harm in case of a malfunction of the system. The carrousel 9is driven by a 220 V AC electric motor having an overload protectionmechanism and the safety system comprises means for detecting anincreased load on the motor for driving the carrousel 9 so as to detecte.g. whether an animal has become wedged. The load on the motor may bemeasured from the phase shift of the motor or from a phase convertercontrolling the operation of the motor. Similar safety arrangements maybe provided for other drive means, such as pneumatic or hydraulicmotors, internal combustion engines etc. In case such an incident oranother major malfunction is detected, the safety system stops therotation of the carrousel 9 and a valve connecting a reservoir ofpressurised air with a number of pneumatic cylinders is opened, causingthe gates 2, 6 to open and the fences 10 dividing the carrousel 9 intoparts to be raised, thus allowing the animals within the arrangement toleave it. The control system of the arrangement is permanently ortemporarily connected via communication means to a surveillance systemand the safety system provides a signal to the surveillance system incase of a malfunction. The arrangement may be reset from thesurveillance system in case the malfunction is remotely correctable bythe surveillance system.

The arrangement is used for controlled feeding of the individual animalof a free range herd. The animals are preferably pigs for whichindividual feeding is advantageous for both sows and porkers that areraised for meat production. Both sows and porkers are fed with differentcompositions and amounts of feed depending on a number of circumstances.The feeding of the sows depends on whether they are in heat, arepregnant, are nursing piglets, are about to farrow, etc. and the feedingof the porkers depends on their age and weight, the so-called phasefeeding programme. The individual control of the feeding of the animalsensures that the stronger or more aggressive animals do not keep otheranimals of the herd from the feed, which for large herds of porkersensures a more homogeneous distribution of size and weight of porkers ofthe similar age and a generally better well-being and health of theanimals. The free-range herds of porkers of similar age or of mixed ageare often large, comprising 100, 200 or even 500 or more animals.

The feeding arrangement is equipped with a control unit, such as acomputer having a logical unit and memory means for storing data, inputand output units and means for controlling the operation of thearrangement. The feeding arrangement is advantageously used togetherwith computer software for carrying out a method for feeding theanimals, the computer software being stored within the memory means andcontrolling the steps of the operation of the arrangement. The operationof the feeding arrangement for a herd of animals each having an earmarkcomprising a transponder for unique identification is described below.The operation of the control unit is controlled by the computersoftware.

The transceiver 1 registers that an earmark is present within thesensing distance, typically about 600 mm, of the transceiver 1 and it isdetermined by the control unit whether the animal is to be fed orseparated, in which two cases the animal is allowed into the separationarrangement. Commonly, the animals are fed twice a day. If the animal isallowed into the separation arrangement, the inlet gate 2 is opened.When the animal has entered the enclosure and is standing on the scale3, the second transceiver 4 registers the identity of the earmark so asto confirm the identification of the animal and to determine that theanimal is placed correctly within the enclosure so that the inlet gate 2may be closed. The weight of the animal is determined from a signalreceived by the control unit from the scale 3 an adjustable period,typically of about 15 seconds, after the animal has entered the scale,and the weight is entered into a record of the individual animal. Thescale 3 calibrates automatically when the enclosure is empty and thescale 3 is unloaded. Optionally, the arrangement also comprises meansfor measuring the surface temperature of the animal by measuring theinfrared radiation from the animal, and alternatively or additionallythe earmark may comprise a temperature sensor and means for transferringdata regarding the measured temperature to the control unit. Theregistration of the body temperature serves the purposes of determiningwhether an animal is ill or, in case of a sow, determines whether thesow is in heat. The arrangement may also comprise means for measuringthe thickness of the fat layer on the back of the animals, primarily forporkers.

The control unit now determines whether the animal should be fed, inwhich case the outlet gate 6 to the feeding carrousel 9 is opened, orthe animal should be separated due to illness, a sow being in heat, forslaughtering or for other reasons, in which case the outlet gate 7 forseparation is opened. The separation arrangement may optionally comprisemore than one outlet gate for separation for different reasons andpurposes, or the outlet gate 7 may lead to an enclosure having aplurality of outlet gates for selective separation. The opening of theoutlet gate 6 to the feeding carrousel 9 is synchronised with theangular position of the carrousel 9 so that each animal is led to anopen part of the carrousel 9. The outlet gate 6 or 7 is closed and theinlet gate 2 is ready to open for another animal at a predetermined timeperiod, e.g., 10 seconds, after the outlet gate 6, 7 is opened. Theoutlet gate 6, 7 does not close if the animal has not left the enclosurecompletely but the inlet gate 2 is opened so that the following animalwill push the preceding animal out from the enclosure. The outlet gate6, 7 is closed in response to the signal from the second transceiver 4indicating that no earmark or other transponder is within readingdistance of the transceiver 4. Altematively, the outlet gate 6, 7 isclosed in response to the output from the scale 3 indicating that theanimal has left the enclosure.

Feed is provided in the feeding bowl 11 in an amount determined by thecontrol unit by activation of the screw conveyor 20. Optionally, thearrangement comprises more than one feed container 18 and the feed maybe mixed individually for each animal. Sub-populations of the animalsmay be fed with different types of feed in order to fulfil differentrequirements from different customers such as organically grown feed.Furthermore, a supply of drinking water may be provided within each partand means for dosing medicine into the feed for the individual animalmay also be provided.

A record for each animal of the herd is kept within the memory means ofthe control unit. The record comprises the transponder identificationnumber, an identification number, the day of birth of the animal,identification of sow and boar and weight at the age of 6-8 weeks.Optionally, the daily registered weight, temperature, amount of feed,unique identification of feed, the hour and minute of each daily feedingand/or the thickness of the layer of fat is also kept on record. Forsows, data regarding expected heat, data regarding the day ofinsemination and day of expected farrowing and/or data regarding size oflitter may also be kept on record.

A number significant of the utilisation of the feed, the E value, may becalculated as follows based on the recorded data: $\begin{matrix}{E = \frac{{weight},{{{day}\quad 2} - {weight}},{{day}\quad 1}}{{feed}\quad {consumption}\quad {per}\quad {day}*{number}\quad {of}\quad {days}}} \\{= {{weight}\quad {unit}\quad {growth}\quad {per}\quad {consumed}\quad {weigh}\quad {unit}\quad {of}\quad {feed}}}\end{matrix}$

The amount of feed for porkers is determined from a table stored withinthe memory means of the control unit and comprising data connecting theage, normal weight and amount and mixture of feed for the animals. Ifthe weight of an animal deviates to the lower side from the normalweight with more than a certain percentage, e.g. 5%, the amount of feedfor that particular animal is increased over a period. The lower weightmay be caused by illness for which reason the effect of the increasedamount of feed is monitored over a period and the animal is separatedfrom the herd if the desired effect is not achieved. The amount of feedis in general raised for all animals if the temperature is low and/orfor certain combinations of temperature and wind for animals livingoutdoor, because it takes more energy for the animals to keep the bodytemperature up. The amount of feed is typically raised with 5% due tocold weather but the amount of feed may be adjusted to more than oneother level so that a more precise adaptation to the environment of theanimals may be made.

The control unit is preferably connected to a surveillance system via aprivate or public communication network or a combination thereof. Thecommunication between the person or persons who look after thefree-range breeding arrangement and the herd of animals will most oftentake place via the network. The control unit may prepare operatingreports to the surveillance system with a predetermined interval and/oron demand, and reports regarding malfunctions of the system are sent tothe surveillance system. An operating report may comprise data regardingthe individual animal and statistical data about the number of animalswithin a weight interval, the temperature of the animals, etc. Thestatistical data from the control unit may advantageously be used foroptimising the raising of the porkers with regard to amount andcomposition of feed, compensation for change of type of feed, formonitoring the effect of changes in the physical environment of theanimals, such as the huts, the area of the field, the arrangement on thefield, etc. The statistical data also constitutes an important parameterin the selection of parent animals for breeding.

The separation of animals for slaughtering is typically performed bycommunicating the number of animals of a given weight that is desired tobe separated from the herd to the control unit prior to the actualfetching of the animals, e.g. twelve hours before. Alternatively oradditionally, the animals for slaughtering may be chosen due to anotherparameter such as the thickness of the fat layer on the back of theanimal, the time period in which the separation is to take place, basedon the registered habits of the animals, the E value of the animals,etc. The control unit then selects the desired number from the animalspassing the separation unit and separates these animals to an enclosureprovided with drinking water. The progress of the separation process maybe monitored at distance via the communication network. The control unitcorrects the records on the herd after the animals for slaughtering havebeen fetched and the data regarding the separated animals may betransferred to the surveillance system so that the data may follow theanimals/the meat, optionally all the way to the consumer. In analternative approach, information is requested from the control unitregarding how many animals of a given size that may be separated withina given time period and the number is predicted based on theregistration of the habits of the individual animal. A list of theanimals chosen for separation may be supplied from the control unit tothe user for manually editing of the list a returning it to the controlunit.

A separation command given to the control unit could as an examplecomprise:

the breeding unit within a larger system from which the animals shouldbe selected.

the feeding unit(s) within the breeding unit to separate from,

the number of animals,

the time period in which the animals should be separated,

the date on which the separation should take place,

the weight range of the animals,

the thickness range of the fat layer on the back of the animals,

the upper limit of the registered temperatures of the animal within agiven time range,

the outlet to which the animals should be separated.

The control unit may also be connected with equipment for providingpictures and/or sound from one or more locations of the breeding systemand in particular for the separation and feeding arrangement and fortransferring these recordings to the surveillance system.

Another function of the system is to optimise the feeding of theindividual animals in order to reach a given set of criteria at a giventime. Typically, a previously placed order defines a common set ofcriteria for a given number of animals and a time of delivery, thecriteria comprising e.g. a weight range and a thickness of the fat layeron the back of the animals. The animals are weighted and the thicknessof the fat layer is measured at least once each day and the compositionof the feed for the individual animal is adjusted to reach thesecriteria. The feed is mixed from a number of different types of feedhaving different content of protein, filling material with lessnutritional value, vitamins, etc.

The feeding of the animals is reduced the last three days beforeseparation of slaughtering so that the animals are delivered to theslaughterhouse with less filled intestines so that contamination of meatand equipment is reduced.

The method of the present invention is performed by means of a PersonalComputer having a central processing unit (CPU), random access memory(RAM), a permanent storage medium being a hard disc, communication meansto communicate with external sensors etc. and a connection to a publicdata communication network through which it may establish connectionwith the remote surveillance system.

The detailed monitoring of the feeding of the animals includingregistration of the identity of the consumed feed makes it possible toestablish a link from an animal or a product derived from the animal,such as meat, to an identified source of feed. Likewise, a known sourceof feed that e.g. have shown to contain unwanted components, impuritiesor pollution can be linked to animals or products derived from animalsthat have been fed the feed in question. The linking may be extended tolink feed consumed by a dam, such as a sow, during pregnancy with theindividual animals of the litter.

The process of registration starts with the control unit of the breedingsystem issuing an order of delivery of feed to the surveillance system.The issuance of the order is based on measurements of the level of feedin the feed storage silos of the breeding system in question.Alternatively, the order is based on a calculation of the feedconsumption from the amount of feed dispersed to the animals. The amountof feed dispersed may, in order to obtain a more precise measure, foreach feeding of each animal be weighed and the weight be registered. Thesurveillance system forwards an electronic delivery order by electronicmail to a supplier business concerning the type of feed, the amount,place and date of delivery etc. The supplier business replies byelectronic mail with a confirmation of the delivery order, a referencenumber uniquely identifying the feed and a declaration of the content ofthe feed. When the feed is delivered from the supplier, a test sample of3 kg of the feed is deposited for permit a possible later analysis ofthe content of the feed. Every time an animal within the breeding systemis fed, the reference number of the feed is registered in the record ofthe animal together with the amount consumed by the animal.

In the case of breeding of porkers, the animals are separatedautomatically from the herd when ready for slaughtering. The porkers areequipped with an earmark in each ear having identical transceivers sothat the two half carcasses of the slaughtered animal each can beuniquely identified. Each larger piece of meat that is cut off thecarcass is being equipped with a machine-readable identification mark, abarcode or preferably a transponder, when it is packed and theidentification mark is in a database linked to the identity of theanimal obtained from the earmark. Alternatively or as a supplement, theDNA profile of the animal can be used to identify the meat.

A customer in a retail store distributing the meat may now from acomputer in the store having means for reading the identification markbe able to obtain information about the feed the animal have been fed,such as e.g. a possible content of genetically modified plant products,animal products such as meat-and-bone meal, plant products that havebeen treated with pesticides or straw-shortening agents, etc., or e.g.whether and to which extend the feed was organically grown, isguaranteed not to be contaminated by plant diseases, such as fungalattacks, etc. The data are preferably obtained by means of a datacommunication connection between said store computer and the computer ofthe remote surveillance system or another central computer systemholding the relevant information from the breeding system and theslaughterhouse.

Another important use of the linkage between products and feed is thecase of a possible content of an unwanted component in a piece of meat,such as e.g. dioxin, PCB etc. If it is found that a piece of meatcontains animal dioxin at a level beyond the limit value. Theidentification mark of the piece of meat is used to identify the animaland the record of the animal within the control unit of the breedingsystem is used to identify the sources of feed. An analysis of thedeposited test samples does not reveal a content of dioxin, and the dataof the record is used to identify the mother of the animal and the feedshe consumed during the pregnancy. An analysis of the relevant samplesreveals that the sow from day 58 to day 93 of the pregnancy has consumedfeed having a content of animal dioxin. As a result, all animals thathave consumed the polluted feed, directly or indirectly, can beidentified and the meat can be destroyed. This is highly advantageous ascompared to the situation of today in which it is necessary to destroyhuge amounts of meat that might be polluted, or alternatively donothing.

For this use the DNA profile of the animal may be advantageous to use toidentify products derived from an animal because it may be used toanalyse the products in any state, e.g. from manufactured products oreven from the stomach content of a person The use of the DNA profile maycomprise that a tissue sample is taken from the animal within the first24 hours after birth, a DNA profile is prepared by means of a kit inwhich the sample is given a unique number being the same ID number asthat of the ear tags applied to the animal in order to minimise the riskof exchange by mistake. The profile data are entered into the recordpertaining to the animal and the data may be used for searched among therecords. The DNA profile may be used to identify and trace productsderived from the animal and link these to the feed consumed by theanimals.

What is claimed is:
 1. Method for controlling breeding of animals of aherd comprising for each animal the repeated series of steps ofautomatic identification of an individual animal by means ofidentification means controlled by means of a control unit to which anoutput significant of the identity of the animal is communicated fromthe identification means, dispersing feed to the identified animal bymeans of feed dispersing means of an automatic feeding unit controlledby means of the control unit, and adding data concerning the feeding ofthe identified animal to a record pertaining to said animal and storingsaid record on data storage means associated with the control unit, thedata concerning the feeding of the identified animal comprises datasuitable for unique identification of the batch/batches of feed fromwhich the feed dispersed to the animal is taken.
 2. Method according toclaim 1 comprising the steps of identifying from said records whichbatches a given animal have consumed feed from, retrieving from datastorage means information about the constituents of each of the batchesof feed from which a given animal have consumed feed from, and producingan output accordingly.
 3. Method according to claim 1 comprising thesteps of identifying from a unique identification of a batch of feed theanimals of the herd which have consumed feed from said batch, andproducing an output accordingly.
 4. Method according to claim 1, whereinthe data suitable for unique identification of the batch/batches of feedfrom which the feed dispersed to the animal is taken are being added toa record pertaining to the identified animal for substantially all foodbeing fed to the animal during a period corresponding substantially tothe lifetime of the animal and substantially all of the data added tothe record pertaining to each of the animals are kept in the record atleast during said period.
 5. Method according to claim 4, wherein eachrecord pertaining to an individual animal of the herd comprises datarelating to the identity of the mother of the individual animal, saiddata being suitable for enabling unique identification of thebatch/batches of feed from which the feed dispersed to the mother duringthe pregnancy period to be retrieved.
 6. Method according to claim 1,further comprising the steps of determining, by means of productidentification means a unique animal identification of products derivedfrom animals of the herd, and searching and retrieving from data storagemeans a record pertaining to the animal from which the product wasderived in accordance with the determined unique animal identification,the record comprising data suitable for unique identification of batchesof feed from which feed dispersed to the animal have been taken. 7.Method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of determiningunique animal identification data by means of analyzing the DNA of asample taken from an animal of the herd or from a product derived froman animal from the herd, and searching and retrieving from data storagemeans a record pertaining to the animal in accordance with thedetermined unique animal identification data the record comprising datasuitable for unique identification of batches of feed from which feeddispersed to the animal have been taken.
 8. Method according to claim 1,wherein said data concerning the feeding of the individual animalcomprises data concerning the time at which the animal is fed.
 9. Methodaccording to claim 1, comprising the steps of monitoring characteristicsof each individual animal by regularly, automatically detection of saidcharacteristics by means of detection means controlled by means of,thecontrol unit to which the detection means communicate an output signalbeing significant for the detected characteristics, the detection beingaccompanied by an automatic identification of the individual animal bymeans of identification means controlled by means of the control unit towhich an output significant of the identity of the animal iscommunicated from the identification means, said characteristicscomprising at least the weight of the animal, and adding said outputfrom the detection means into the record pertaining to the individualanimal and storing of said record in the data storage means by means ofthe control unit.
 10. Method according to claim 9 and further comprisingthe step of computing a feed ration for each individual animal by meansof the control unit based on data comprised within the record of saidanimal and on a set of standard data comprised in the data storagemeans, the control of the automatic feeding unit by means of the controlunit to disperse feed to the identified animal being according to thecomputed feed ration.
 11. Method according to claim 10, wherein thecomputed feed ration comprises a mixture of at least two types of feedand the feed dispersing means disperses said mixture.
 12. Methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the feeding unit comprises detection meansfor detecting a possible amount of feed that was not consumed by theanimal to which it was dispersed and for communicating data beingsignificant of said amount to the control unit, said data being added tothe record pertaining to said animal.
 13. Method according to claim 9,wherein the step of monitoring characteristics of each identified animalcomprises the monitoring of at least one of the followingcharacteristics: a) a temperature of the animal, b) a thickness of thefat layer on the back of the animal, and c) an image representing atleast a part of the body of the animal, the at least one characteristicsbeing detected by suitable detection means controlled by means of thecontrol unit to which the detection means communicates an output signalbeing significant for the detected characteristics, the method furthercomprising the step of adding said output from the detection means intothe record pertaining to the identified animal.
 14. Method according toclaim 9, wherein the step of monitoring characteristics of eachidentified animal comprises the monitoring of at least one of thefollowing characteristics relating to the stress level of the animal: d)the respiration rate of the animal, e) the heart beat rate of theanimal, f) the blood pressure of the animal, and g) an image of an eyeof the animal, the at least one characteristics being detected bysuitable detection means controlled by means of the control unit towhich the detection means communicates an output signal beingsignificant for the detected characteristics, the method furthercomprising the step of comparison of the output signal with a standardvalue of said output comprised within the storage means by means of thecontrol unit and the step of adding the outcome of said comparison intothe record pertaining to the identified animal.
 15. Method according toclaim 14, wherein said standard value of said output for each of theanimals is comprised within the record pertaining to the animal. 16.Method according to claim 13, wherein a temperature of each animal ismonitored, the method further comprising the steps of determiningwhether the detected temperature deviates from a predetermined referencetemperature range by means of the control unit, and separating theanimal by means of a separation unit controlled by means of the controlunit in case of deviation.
 17. Method according to claim 9 and furthercomprising the step of on a regular basis computing the E value, beingthe weight unit growth per consumed weight unit of feed, for each animalby means of the control unit using data comprised within the recordpertaining to the animal.
 18. Method according to claim 17 and furthercomprising the steps of determining for each animal whether the computedE value deviates from a predetermined set of E value ranges by means ofthe control unit, and separating the animal by means of a separationunit controlled by means of the control unit in case of deviation. 19.Method according to claim 12 and further comprising the steps ofdetermining for each animal whether the consumed amount of feed deviatesfrom a predetermined set of feed consumption ranges by means of thecontrol unit using data comprised, within the record pertaining to theanimal, and separating the animal by means of a separation unitcontrolled by means of the control unit in case of deviation.
 20. Methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the feed ration for each animal isadjusted by means of the control unit according to the temperature andoptionally to the wind speed the animals are subjected to.
 21. Methodaccording to claim 1 and further comprising the steps of selecting asubgroup of the herd of animals, said subgroup comprising at least oneanimal, by means of the control unit, the selection being based on datacomprised within the records of each animal and on a set of selectiondata comprised in the data storage means, and controlling an automaticseparation unit by means of the control unit, wherein each animalbelonging to said subgroup is automatically identified by means ofidentification means controlled by means of the control unit and isseparated to a separation enclosure.
 22. Method according to claim 1 andfurther comprising the step of issuing a warning information requestingexternal interaction by means of the control unit in case at least onecondition of a list of conditions is fulfilled, the list of conditionscomprising at least the following conditions: a) at least one of theanimals has not entered a feeding unit within a predetermined timeperiod, and b) the power supply to a breeding system controlled by thecontrol unit is interrupted.
 23. Method according to claim 22, whereinthe feeding unit comprises feed storage means and monitoring means formonitoring the content of the storage means and communicating to thecontrol unit accordingly, the list of conditions further comprising thecondition of: c) the remaining supply of feed in the feed storage meansis below a predetermined threshold value.
 24. Method according to claim22, wherein the list of conditions further comprises at least one of thefollowing conditions: d) the pressure in the supply of compressed air tothe breeding system is below a predetermined threshold value, e) thepressure in the supply of drinking water to the breeding system is belowa predetermined threshold value, and f) a malfunction of one of theelements of the breeding system being controlled by means of the controlunit is detected.
 25. Method according to claim 22, wherein the list ofconditions further comprises the condition of: g) at least one of theanimals has not approached a drinking water bowl within a predeterminedtime period.
 26. Method according to claim 1, wherein the control of thefeeding unit further comprises the step of controlling medicinedispersing means of the feeding unit in accordance with medicinedispersing data stored within the record pertaining to the identifiedanimal in the feeding unit so that the animal is being provided with apredetermined ration of medicine, and wherein the data concerning thedispersing of medicine is added to said record.
 27. Method according toclaim 1, wherein a subgroup is selected to be in accordance with aseparation order communicated to the control unit, the separation ordercomprising data relating to the number of animals to be separated and toat least one quality to be fulfilled by the selected animals, the atleast one quality being selected from a list of qualities comprising thefollowing quality: a) a weight range from which the weight of each ofthe selected animals do not deviate.
 28. Method according to claim 27,wherein the list of qualities further comprises the following quality:b) a predetermined time period in which medicine has not been dispersedto any of the selected animals.
 29. Method according to claim 27,wherein a thickness of the fat layer on the back of the animal ismonitored, the list of qualities further comprises the followingquality: c) a thickness range from which the thickness of the fat layeron the back of the selected animals should not deviate.
 30. Methodaccording to claim 27, wherein the list of qualities further comprisesthe following quality: d) a set of E value ranges from which the set ofcomputed E values of the selected animals should not deviate.
 31. Methodaccording to claim 8, wherein a separation of animals is performed inrelation to the feeding, the separation order further comprises datarelating to the time at which the separation following the selection isto be accomplished, the separation of animals being performed withconsideration to data relating to the times at which the animal is fedcomprised in the record of each animal.
 32. Method according to claim 1,wherein animals that are separated for slaughtering are identified andmonitored through the procedure of separation, transport to the place ofslaughtering and the slaughtering process itself so that each of theindividual animals are monitored a plurality of times during saidprocedure and data resulting from said monitoring are added to therecords pertaining to the respective animals.
 33. Method according toclaim 1, wherein each of the records further comprises data relating tothe identity of the parents of the animal and to the date of birth. 34.Method according to claim 1, wherein the breeding arrangement controlledby use of the method comprises a mud-hole arranged accessible for theanimals, the mud-hole having such dimensions that it may contain atleast one of said animals and having a design so that said animals areable to enter and leave the mud-hole, the mud-hole comprising detectionmeans for detecting the relative content of excretions in a liquidcontained within the mud-hole and communicating an output accordingly tothe control unit, the control unit comparing the output with apredetermined range stored within the storage means and issuing awarning in case the output deviates from said range.
 35. Methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the control unit is at least temporarilyconnected to a data communication network via which it is able tocommunicate with at least one remote system.
 36. Method according toclaim 35, wherein the remote system is a surveillance system from whichthe operation of the control unit may be remotely monitored and at leastpartially controlled.
 37. Method according to claim 22, wherein thewarning information is issued to a remote system by means of the datacommunication network.
 38. Method according to claim 1, furthercomprising for each animal the repeated series of steps of monitoringcharacteristics of each individual animal by regularly, automaticallydetection of said characteristics by means of detection means controlledby means of the control unit to which the detection means communicate anoutput signal being significant for the detected characteristics, thedetection being accompanied by an automatic identification of theindividual, animal by means of identification means controlled by meansof the control unit to which an output significant of the identity ofthe animal is communicated from the identification means, saidcharacteristics comprising at least the weight of the animal, addingsaid output from the detection means into the record pertaining to theindividual animal and storing of said record in the data storage meansby means of the control unit, dispersing feed to the identified animalby means of feed dispersing means of an automatic feeding unitcontrolled by means of the control unit, adding data concerning thefeeding of the identified animal to a record pertaining to said animaland storing said record on data storage means associated with thecontrol unit, automatic identification of an individual animalapproaching a drinking water bowl by means of identification means ofthe drinking bowl controlled by means of the control unit to which anoutput significant of the identity of the animal is communicated fromthe identification means, monitoring of the amount of water consumed bysaid animal from the drinking water bowl by means of detection means andcommunicating an output accordingly to the control unit, and adding saiddata to the record pertaining to said animal, the animals of the herdbeing supplied with drinking water from one or more drinking water bowlscontrolled in the above way so that all consumption of drinking water ofeach of the animals is monitored and data concerning said consumptionare added to the record of each animal.
 39. Method according to claim 38and further comprising the steps of determining for each animal whetherthe consumed amount of water deviates from a predetermined set of waterconsumption ranges by means of the control unit using data comprisedwithin the record pertaining to the animal, and separating the animal bymeans of the separation unit in case of deviation.
 40. Method accordingto claim 39, wherein the step of separation of the animal is accompaniedby the issuance of warning information by means of the control unit. 41.Method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of selectingby means of a control unit a subgroup of animals from the herd anddetermining a weight range from which the weight of each of the selectedanimals should not deviate at a selected future date, the method furthercomprising for each animal of the selected subgroup the repeated seriesof steps of monitoring the weight of each individual animal byregularly, automatically detection of the weight by means of weighingmeans controlled by means of a control unit to which the weighing meanscommunicate an output signal being significant for the detected weight,the detection being accompanied by an automatic identification of theindividual animal by means of identification means controlled by meansof the control unit to which an output significant of the identity ofthe animal is communicated from the identification means, adding saidoutput from the weighing means into a record pertaining to theindividual animal, the record being selected by the control unit from a,plurality of records comprised within a data storage means of saidcontrol unit by use of the output from the identification means, andstoring of said record in the data storage means by means of saidcontrol unit, computing by means of the control unit a feed ration foreach individual animal based on data comprised within the recordpertaining to said animal, on the selected weight range, and on theselected date, controlling an automatic feeding unit by means of thecontrol unit, wherein each individual animal is automatically identifiedby means of identification means controlled by means of the control unitand the computed feed ration for the individual animal is dispersed tothe animal by means of feed dispersing means controlled by means of thecontrol unit, and adding data concerning the feeding of the individualanimal to the record pertaining to said animal.
 42. Method according toclaim 41, and further comprising the steps of receiving by means of thecontrol unit a separation order comprising data relating to the numberof animals to be separated, to a weight range from which the weight ofeach of the selected animals should not deviate upon separation, and toa future date of separation, performing said selection of a subgroup inaccordance with the received separation order, and performing by meansof separation means controlled by the control unit a separation from theremaining herd of the selected subgroup of animals on said date ofseparation.
 43. Method according to 1, further comprising for each,animal the repeated series of steps of monitoring characteristics ofeach individual animal by regularly, automatically detection of saidcharacteristics by means of detection means controlled by means of thecontrol unit to which the detection means communicate an output signalbeing significant for the detected characteristics, the detection beingaccompanied by an automatic identification of the individual animal bymeans of identification means controlled by means of the control unit towhich an output significant of the identity of the animal iscommunicated from the identification means, said characteristicscomprising at least the weight of the animal, adding said output fromthe detection means into the record pertaining to the individual animaland storing of said record in the data storage means by means of thecontrol unit, dispersing feed to the identified animal by means of feeddispersing means of an automatic feeding unit controlled by means of thecontrol unit, detecting by means of electronic image recording means anelectronic image being significant of a possible amount of feed that wasnot consumed by the animal to which it was dispersed and processing saidimage by means of data processing means to determine said possibleamount, and adding data concerning the feeding of the identified animal,including said determined possible amount, to a record pertaining tosaid animal and storing said record on data storage means associatedwith the control unit.
 44. Method for remote surveillance of a pluralityof breeding systems each for automatic breeding of animals of a separateherd by means of a central surveillance computer system according toclaim 1, the method comprises for each of the breeding systems the stepsof monitoring characteristics of each individual animal by regularly,automatically detection of said characteristics by means of detectionmeans controlled by means of the control unit to which the detectionmeans communicate an output signal being significant for the detectedcharacteristics, the detection being accompanied by an automaticidentification of the individual animal by means of identification meanscontrolled by means of the control unit to which an output significantof the identity of the animal is communicated from the identificationmeans, said characteristics comprising at least the weight of theanimal, adding said output from the detection means into the recordpertaining to the individual animal and storing of said record in thedata storage means by means of the control unit, dispersing feed to theidentified animal by means of feed dispersing means of an automaticfeeding unit controlled by means of the control unit, adding dataconcerning the feeding of the identified animal to a record pertainingto said animal and storing said record on data storage means associatedwith the control unit, performing a continuous monitoring of theoperation of at least parts of the breeding system by means of thecontrol unit, and at least temporarily establishing a data communicationconnection between the control unit and the central surveillancecomputer system via a data communication network, the method furthercomprising the steps of comparing the collected data relating tothe-animals of each of the herds and to the monitoring of the operationof each of the plurality of breeding systems with a set of standard datadefining an envelope of normal operation and issuing by means of thecentral surveillance computer a warning message comprising a request forhuman interaction with a specified one of the plurality of breedingsystems.